D B 

.3 



CHRISTIANITY ESSENTIAL TO LIBERTY. 



A 



IN AID OF HUNGARY. 



PREACHED ON THANKSGIVING DAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1851. 



BY JOSEPH P. THOMPSON", 

Pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle Church. 



NEW YORK: 

PRINTED BY S. W. BENEDICT, 16 SPRUCE STREET. 

1851. 



SERMON. 



JOHN 8 : 32 . 
THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE. 

By the Truth is here intended the doctrines of Christ — the 
system of truth known as Christianity. The freedom here 
spoken of, is primarily a spiritual freedom. Personal free- 
dom is exemption from the constraint or control of others ; 
it is a state in which one exercises his natural liberty to act as 
he thinks fit, without any arbitrary or forcible restraint from 
the will of another. Civil or political freedom is a state in 
which one exercises his natural or personal liberty, subject 
only to the restraints of law or of civil government establish- 
ed for the safety and interest of society. Where this liberty 
is perfect, there is no more abridgment of personal freedom 
than is necessary for the public good ; anything beyond this 
is tyranny or oppression. 

Religious liberty is " the free right of adopting and en- 
joying opinions on religious subjects, and of worshiping the 
Supreme Being according to the dictates of conscience, with- 
out external control." 

These are the various forms of liberty, commonly known 
among men. But besides these, which are mainly external, 
there is a higher liberty of the soul, a spiritual freedom or 
the liberty of the Gospel. This is the freedom spoken of in 
the text. 

The political state of the Jews was at that time almost a 
state of servitude. They were subjugated to the Roman 
yoke, and their national independence was completely destroy- 
ed. Their national pride, however, was not subdued, and 
retaining the most exalted views of their calling as the peo- 



pie of God, they embarked in a " fanatic strife" for freedom, 
which, during their contests with the Romans, often issued in 
the most horrible scenes. Jehovah had brought them into a 
state of oppression as a punishment for their sins ; but in- 
stead of repenting and turning to the Lord, they were either 
restive and complaining — endeavoring to regain their free- 
dom by conquest — or they were sullen in the fanatical conceit 
of their own superiority as the favorites of heaven. "No- 
thing was more intolerable to them than to be considered the 
slaves of men. In their longing after the Messiah, they were 
beguiled especially by the hope that this Desired-One would 
make them the lords of the world. Hence it must have 
greatly surprised them that Jesus, whom they were disposed 
to regard as the Messiah, should treat them as slaves." 

This state of mind is apparent in the context. Many of the 
Jews, we are told, " believed on him ;" not that they appre- 
hended his true character and received him spiritually, but be- 
cause of his miracles and sayings, they looked upon him as the 
promised Messiah. In order to test their sincerity, Jesus said 
to those Jews who believed [or professed to believe] on him, 
" If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed ; 
and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you 
free." At this intimation of their state of bondage they took 
great offense, and supposing that he had reference to an ex- 
ternal condition of slavery, they at once adduced their noble 
origin from Abraham the friend of God. " They answered 
him, We be Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to 
any man : how sayest thou, ye shall be made free ?" They 
were indignant at the thought that they — the children of Abra- 
ham — could really be in bondage, though for the time they 
were under the rod of an oppressor. Their national spirit 
was not subdued, and their national prerogatives as the cho- 
sen seed were not forfeited. Hereupon Jesus proceeded to 
give them a deeper idea of freedom, its nature and conditions. 
He answered them, " Verily, verily I say to you, whosoever 
committeth sin, is the servant of sin." There is the radical 
idea of slavery. He who yields himself to sin, is under the 
control of sin ; he thereby becomes its slave ; he acts wholly 



from a selfish motive, and that motive, whether in an indivi- 
dual or in a nation, is itself a bondage. " Whosoever commit- 
teth sin, is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not 
in the house forever, but the son abideth ever." Although 
externally, as children of the promise, you are in the house 
of God, yet that external relation alone will not forever bind 
you to his family, for you have surrendered yourselves as 
slaves to a strange master — to the world, to self, to Satan, — 
and in that bondage you will perish unless delivered from it 
by a power from without. None can deliver you but the Son 
who forever abideth in a living fellowship with the Father, 
who is wholly free from sin, and who is heir to his Father's 
power. " If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall 
be free indeed." Christ thus identifies himself with his 
truth, as the Author and Source of true Freedom. 

The truth of Christ emancipates the mind from error, 
from superstition, from doubt, from fear, from vain philo- 
sophy and traditions of men, from forms and ceremonies, 
from lust, from selfishness, from every phase of sin. It 
would be interesting to follow out this train of thought in its 
personal application ; but the principle of the text admits of 
a much wider range than that of individual emancipation 
from sin ; and it befits this occasion to apply the subject to 
general or national interests. It is true of nations as of in- 
dividuals, that the truth alone can make them free. I pur- 
pose to show, in this discourse, that 

Christianity received m its spirit and power into the 

HEART OF A NATION, IS THE ONLY TRUE AND PERMANENT 
FOUNDATION OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIBERTY. 

The subject may be viewed historically and philosophi- 
cally. 

Prior to the introduction of Christianity, with the excep- 
tion of the Hebrew Commonwealth in its purity, no nation 
recognized civil liberty as a universal right, or enjoyed politi- 
cal liberty as a permanent possession. The reader of histo- 
ry may be disposed to meet this assertion by a reference to 
the republics of Greece and Eome, especially the former, 
from which our very term Democracy is derived. But an 



6 

analysis of the constitution of those republics, will show that 
they were not based upon any just idea of freedom, nor per- 
vaded by its true spirit. The republicanism of that era was 
based, not upon general principles of right and of humanity, 
but upon the selfish interests of the more numerous class, 
who, by long-continued opposition to other classes, rose from 
a condition of dependence to one of power. Take for exam- 
ple the anomalous republic of Sparta. "The form of govern- 
ment universally prevalent in the Homeric or heroic age ap- 
pears to have been a monarchy, limited by ancient custom as 
well as by a body of powerful chiefs, who were almost the 
king's equals ; it was, in fact, an aristocracy, with an heredi- 
tary prince at its head."* By degrees the power of the 
nobles increased at the expense of that of the kings, till at 
length even the title of royalty was abolished. In Sparta 
this change was very gradual. For a considerable period 
there were two kings, who exercised power either jointly or al- 
ternately ; these were also priests of Jupiter. The nobles 
held most of the landed property, and thus kept the reins of 
government in their own hands. "In the course of time, 
while the ruling body remained stationary, or was even los- 
ing strength, the commonalty — the class which, though per- 
sonally free, was at first excluded from all share in the gov- 
ernment — was constantly growing in numbers and wealth, was 
becoming more united in itself, more conscious of its resour- 
ces, and more disposed to put forward new claims. This was 
the case, especially in the larger cities, which were at all 
times the most formidable opponents of oligarchies."f 
Hence arose a series of struggles between the nobles and the 
common people, which issued sometimes in a temporary des- 
potism and sometimes in an almost democracy. A senate of 
twenty-eight elders, holding office for life, was constituted by 
Lycurgus ; in this senate the two kings sat and voted, until 
royalty was finally abolished. Besides this " there were pe- 
riodical assemblies of the Spartan people in the open air. 
Yet no discussion was permitted in these assemblies — their 

* Schmitz, p. 124. , f Do., p. 125. 



functions were limited to the simple acceptance or rejection 
of that which had previously been determined in the sen- 
ate."* The number of citizens qualified to appear in these 
assemblies was small, and the whole thing was "little better 
than an inoperative formality." Although there was after- 
wards a sort of representative body from the people, — the 
Ephors, an Executive Directory, whose power became almost 
absolute — yet the rights of free suffrage and free speech 
were never recognized, and " nothing was more character- 
istic of the government than the extreme secrecy of its pro- 
ceedings." 

What, now, was the state of society under this govern- 
ment ? The proper and privileged Spartans who had a right 
to appear in the public assembly, were but a small proportion 
of the entire population. The fully qualified citizens " lived 
in Sparta itself, fulfilled all the exigencies of the Lycurgean 
discipline, paid their quota to the Syrsitia, or public mess, 
and were alone eligible to honor or public offices. They were 
maintained from lands round about the city, which were 
tilled for them by Helots, who seem to have paid over to 
them a fixed proportion of the produce."f These full-privi- 
leged burghers were mere consumers, and contributed in no 
way to the resources from which their dignity was supported. 
Their number, however, was diminished by the disfranchise- 
ment of the poor. In addition to these was a numerous class 
of provincials, called Periceki, who resided in the villages and 
rural districts ; " these had no share in the political privileges 
of the Spartans ; yet they bore the heaviest share of the pub- 
lic burdens, and had to fight the battles, the principal object 
of which was to gratify the pride and ambition of the Spar- 
tans."^: But there was yet another very large class — 
the Helots, the descendants of the conquered inhabitants of 
the country, who were held in a state of villenage, if not of 
absolute servitude. They were bound to the soil — ad- 
scripti glebcB — and could not be torn from it, or sold into 
another country, and in that respect their condition was more 

* Grote's History of Greece, ii., 356. f Do., ii., 362. \ Schmitz, 94. 



favorable than that of the slaves in this country, more like 
that of the serfs in Russia, who are sold with the land. 
They belonged rather to the state than to the master. Yet 
their condition was one of extreme degradation; they were 
regarded with jealousy and suspicion, and were treated with 
contempt and cruelty. One well-attested fact will show the 
terrible condition of society in the Spartan State. On a cer- 
tain occasion, after the Helots had been called upon for sig- 
nal military efforts in various ways, the Spartans became ap- 
prehensive of an outbreak. " Anxious to single out the most 
forward and daring Helots, as the men from whom they 
had most to dread, they issued proclamation that every mem- 
ber of that class who had rendered distinguished services 
should make his claims known at Sparta, promising liberty 
to the most deserving. A large number of Helots came for- 
ward to claim the boon : not less than two thousand of them 
were approved, formally manumitted, and led in solemn pro- 
cession round the temples, with garlands on their heads, as 
an inauguration to their corning life of freedom. But the 
treacherous garlands only marked them out as victims for the 
sacrifice : every man of them forthwith disappeared — the 
manner of their death was an untold mystery."* 

"What a state of society was that in which such a monstrous 
outrage could be perpetrated in open day, without awakening 
discussion, remonstrance, or curiosity, and could be consum- 
mated so effectually that the diligent and careful historian 
Thucydides could get no satisfactory information of the man- 
ner in which the victims were destroyed. Such was liberty 
in Sparta ; the personal liberty of a few — and that hedged 
round by State restrictions, interfering with the family insti- 
tution and with domestic education, forbidding commerce, 
forbidding citizens to leave the country and foreigners to enter 
it — while the masses were held in a servitude the most abject, 
and subjected to cruelties the most revolting. In such a state 
there was no proper idea of liberty — no recognition of human 
rights — no principle of justice or humanity — no regard what- 

* Grot9. ii., 377. 



9 

ever for general rights — nothing but the selfish contention of 
class with class for their own narrow interests. A constitu- 
tional liberty for the people, based upon intelligent views of 
the rights of man, was utterly unknown in Sparta. 

Nor was this idea developed in the more democratic govern- 
ment of Athens. In this state there was a venerable Senate, 
the Areopagus, which enjoyed a life-tenure, and exercised cer- 
tain prescriptive and hereditary rights. This body had a semi- 
religious character, and a large and undefined controlling 
power. In addition to this there was an annual Senate of 
Five Hundred ; under Pericles, the magistrates were chosen 
by lot, " thus equalizing the chances of office to every candi- 
date ;" and there was also a public deliberative assembly 
meeting periodically during the year and in a prescribed 
place. But the grand feature of the Athenian government 
was that introduced by Pericles, of dikasteries, or paid jury 
courts, in which the panel consisted not of twelve men but 
of five hundred, and to one of these every judicial case must 
be submitted. Here certainly .was a fine development of the 
democratic principle. And yet in the Athenian government, 
there was a constant strife between the oligarchy and the 
democracy — a clashing of rival castes and interests, which 
issued in the most arbitrary and retaliatory measures, as 
either gained the ascendency. The secret ballot thus became 
an engine of despotism for the banishment of unpopular citi- 
zens. There were no constitutional guarantees of personal 
rights — there was no recognition of rights as rights ; but the 
poor and the middling classes wrested for themselves what 
power they could, and the rich conceded only what they had 
not the ability to retain. 

In Attica as in Sparta there were three classes : the citi- 
zens or freemen, who alone had any voice in the government ; 
the foreigners or sojourners, who had no political privileges 
or preferments, but were subjected to a tax and were liable 
to be sold in default of paying it ; and the slaves, who were 
by far the most numerous. A poll, or census, on one occa- 
sion, returned 21,000 citizens, 10,000 resident aliens, and 



10 

400,000 slaves.* Although slavery in Athens was regulated 
by law, and existed in a somewhat mitigated form, yet the 
great masses of the pojmlation were held in a state of politi- 
cal and personal degradation. It was the policy of those in 
power to extinguish in their slaves e'very spark of manhood 
and every aspiration for liberty. I have said that foreigners 
and their descendants were liable to be sold into slavery for 
the non-payment of the tax imposed upon them for the privi- 
lege of a residence in Attica. The philosopher Xenocrates 
was actually thus sold and afterwards redeemed by a friend. 
These facts will serve to show the extent of popular 
liberty in Athens ; the liberty of one-twentieth part of the 
population, held at the expense of all the rest ; and even in 
that fraction of the population, indigence was often made a 
bar to the exercise of political rights, even by a free-born 
citizen. I am aware that it is difficult for us at a distance of 
more than two thousand years, and with the scanty materials at 
command, to form a just estimate of Athenian society. Two 
thousand years hence a historian may write that, in the mid- 
dle of the nineteenth century, there were in the United States 
3,000,000 of slaves ; that slave-hunting was practiced by law 
throughout the Union ; that men and women were seized at 
their labor, or in their homes, and, without a jury-trial, or any 
of the customary defenses of law, were hurried before a soli- 
tary and subaltern officer of the government, who was bribed 
by an extra fee to deliver them over to slavery, and were then 
consigned to hopeless bondage under the revengeful or the 
lustful passions of irresponsible masters. The historian might 
further show that men and women were obliged to flee out 
of this so-called republic into a neighboring monarchy, in or- 
der to enjoy their personal liberty ; and that even ministers 
of the Gospel, honorably connected with leading ecclesiastical 
bodies, were detained in foreign lands, and under monarchical 
governments, by the fear of being seized and sold into slavery 
upon this soil. He might show likewise that these things 
were not done in a corner, but were justified in the national 

*Boeckh's Public Economy of Athens, Vol. I. 



11 

councils, in political conventions, and even by the pulpit ! And 
from all this the historian, two thousand years hence, might 
go on to infer that Christianity had not penetrated this nation, 
and that it had no just idea of liberty. But along with this 
class of facts he could have our Declaration of Independence, 
and Fourth of July orations innumerable, the Federal and 
State Constitutions, our naturalization laws, the decisions of 
our courts, the writings of our statesmen, the history of our 
Revolution, and the archives of the national government — all 
going to show that we understood the true theory of liberty, 
however hypocritical we may have been in the practice of it. 
Possibly, too, such a historian would find remonstrances 
against this oppression and injustice, showing that the public 
conscience was not indifferent to such an abuse of liberty. 
All this would lead him to modify his opinion of us, though 
such an anomaly would greatly perplex him. 

Now we should not pronounce Athenian liberty defective, 
merely because slavery existed in that commonwealth ; bui, 
while the evidences of oppression abound, there is no coun- 
tervailing evidence on the side of freedom. There was in 
Athens no constitutional liberty based upon a definition and 
a recognition of human rights as such / there was no just 
theory or principle of liberty ; there was no party in the 
State against slavery ; no party based upon the doctrine of 
natural equality as a reason for political freedom ; no protest 
against oppression from any of her statesmen, like that of 
Jefferson against domestic slavery, — " I tremble for my coun- 
try when I remember that God is just." It is the absence of 
all these things that shows that Athenian liberty was not a 
thing of principle, but a personal and selfish matter, — a mere 
class interest, supremely selfish and tyrannical toward others. 

The Roman Republic need detain us but a moment. In 
that, after the expulsion of Tarquinius, the last of the kings 
of Rome, we see a perpetual war of families and classes, first 
of the patricians and the plebeians ; and afterward, as the 
old aristocracy declined, a new aristocracy was formed of the 
more wealthy of the commons, which constituted a moneyed 
and commercial interest, separated itself from the masses, and 



12 

took advantage of their pecuniar y straits to oppress them in 
their political liberties. Hence proceeded, as Arnold has 
shown, " the gradual depression of the commons to that ex- 
treme point of misery, which led to the institution of the tri- 
buneship. Immediately after the expulsion of the king, the 
commons shared in the advantages of the Revolution ; but 
within a few years we find them so oppressed and powerless, 
that their utmost hopes aspired, not to the assertion of politi- 
cal equality with the burghers, but merely to the obtaining 
protection from personal injuries. 

"The specific character of their degradation is stated to have 
been this ; that there prevailed among them severe distress, 
amounting in many cases to actual ruin ; that to relieve them- 
selves of their poverty, they were in the habit of borrowing 
money of the burghers ; that the distress continuing, they 
became generally insolvent ; and that as the law of debtor 
and creditor was exceedingly severe, they became liable in 
their persons to the cruelty of the burghers, were treated by 
them as slaves, confined as such in their workhouses, kept to 
task-work, and often beaten at the discretion of their task- 
masters."* 

Roman liberty, restricted as it was among the Romans 
themselves, and continually threatened by the feuds of classes, 
was not a liberty of principle for all mankind. The nations 
that Rome conquered were enslaved, and held under severe 
civil disabilities. Rome itself was filled with slaves. Indi- 
vidual citizens counted this species of property by thousands. 
And in Rome slavery existed in its most revolting form — it 
was simple chattelism / and it is from that, and not from He- 
brew servitude, that the fundamental vice in American sla- 
very is borrowed. The slave was not under law as a man, 
but under his master as a thing ; and there was no redress 
for any cruelty that a master might inflict upon his slaves. 
Rome was a commonwealth of petty tyrants. Cato, who is 
celebrated as the most just and virtuous of Roman citizens, 
according to Plutarch, when his servants grew old and unfit 

* Arnold's History of Rome, i., 92. 



13 

for labor, notwithstanding they had been very faithful and 
serviceable to him, and had spent their youth and strength in 
laboring for him, would not be at the charge of maintaining 
them, but either turned them away, unable to provide for 
themselves, or let them starve to death in his own family. 
Others were addicted to the cruelty of putting slaves to death, 
and feeding out their bodies piece-meal to the fish of their 
ponds to high ten their flavor. In this horrible state of so- 
ciety Roman liberty flourished ! — a liberty not of principle 
l)ut of caste — a selfish liberty of the few against the rights 
and the happiness of the many. 

Have I not now justified the assertion that before the intro- 
duction of Christianity, the true idea of civil liberty was un- 
known in the world ? Here let it be observed, that there was 
nothing in the philosophy or the religion of the ancients, to 
suggest that idea. There was no philosophy of human rights, 
— there was no religion of universal love. On the contrary, 
philosophy was cold, speculative, reserved, sitting apart from 
the people in its pride ; and religion dealt in mysteries, nur- 
tured castes, favored priestly domination, and so far as re- 
lated to the public, was intensely national and selfish. The 
gods were gods of particular nations ; in that character 
they were hostile to each other, and their worship nur- 
tured national pride and a spirit of jealousy. There was no 
sentiment of universal brotherhood in man ; there was no re- 
cognition of man as the offspring of God. Nor was there 
in the religion of the ancients any reforming and elevat- 
ing power, that could raise the masses in character and con- 
dition, and thus bring them into fellowship. The very 
character of the gods, the very rites of worship, conduced to 
the degradation of the people, and fitted them for bestiality 
and slavery. 

The Hebrew Constitution as it came from Moses, contained 
the elements of liberty, and so far as its human administra- 
tion was concerned, of a democracy. There has been but lit- 
tle advance upon its fundamental principles. But this 
constitution was soon departed from, and abuses crept in, 



14 

which, rendered the political condition of the Israelites at 
times but little better than that of their heathen neighbors. 
This constitution, too, was strictly national and local, and 
its practical working engendered a spirit of pride and 
selfishness, from which the Jew is not delivered to this day. 
The doctrine of universal love was a new commandment of 
the new dispensation. 

From this historical survey we will now turn to the philo- 
sophical view of the subject, and consider the principles of 
Christianity in their nature and in their practical application. 
These principles are the only true and permanent foundation 
of personal and civil liberty. The bare enumeration of the 
great principles of the Christian religion, will suffice to show 
their bearing upon the rights and liberties of men. 

1. Christianity ascribes to all men a common origin, and 
thus places them upon a natural equality toward each other, 
and before God. 

The Gospel recognizes no distinction of birth or blood. In 
the very face of Athenian pride that spurned the lowly origin 
of other nations, and by the lips of a Jew of the proud line- 
age of Abraham, it declares that God " made of one blood 
all nations of men." This doctrine of the unity and the uni- 
versal brotherhood of the race, as sprung from a common 
stock by the power of the One Creator, lies at the very foun- 
dation of political liberty. Kings and priests have rested 
their claim of superiority upon pretensions of blood and race. 
The Brahmins have for ages maintained their despotism, by 
the religious isolation of castes, over which they held pre- 
eminence as " the chief of all creatures." The isolation of 
the nations of antiquity was preserved by the idea of a sepa- 
rate origin and a separate divinity for each ; while royalty and 
priesthood maintained their sway by an alleged affinity with 
the gods. The Gospel doctrine of the unity of the race, inter- 
woven as it is with the doctrine of the unity of the divine exist- 
ence, overturns this ancient foundation of despotism. It teaches 
what was so terribly taught by the royal scaffolds of England 



15 

and France, that the blood of a king is even as the blood of 
a common man. 

2. Christianity regards all men as being naturally in the 
same moral state and makes their equality in this re- 
spect a fact of far greater moment than any diversities in 
their outward condition. 

Here is the leveling power of the Gospel. It brings the 
king from his throne down to the level of the meanest peasant 
as a sinner before God ; it proclaims the universal guilt and 
wretchedness of men in every station and condition of life ; it 
brings them together as moral beings upon the ground of com- 
mon wants and a common helplessness. When all are thus 
prostrated before God, how can one rise up in pride against 
another % 

3. Christianity makes all men alike the subjects of a re- 
demptive system, in which God himself appears for the resto- 
ration of the vjorld to himself 

Here is the elevating power of the Gospel ; it brings the 
meanest peasant up by the side of the loftiest king, as a man 
for whom Christ died, — a man whose happiness in the sight 
of God is of such value, that for him Christ laid aside his hea- 
venly glory, took upon him the nature of man, and suffered 
the agony of the cross. Of what priceless worth is a being 
for whom God has made such a demonstration of regard ! 
This He has done equally for all ; and wherever that truth 
penetrates, all men feel themselves upon an equality as the 
heirs of the same heavenly grace. 

4. Christianity teaches that cdl men are alike immortal y 
and by the grandeur and impressiveness of its revelations of 
the future, it exalts the spiritual above the material, and 
makes the personality of tlie man, his relations to God and 
to his fellows as a spiritual being, the one thing to be re- 
garded. 

Here, again, is the ennobling power of the Gospel. Think 
of an immortal being bound in chains ! One who shall live 
forever, and whose capacities for improvement and for happi- 
ness are boundless, here doomed to oppression and cruelty, 
like the beasts that perish ! The bare conception of man's 



16 

immortality forbids the exercise of tyranny. In this view, 
man is too great, too noble, too precious, to be enslaved by 
his fellow-man. 

5. In its institutions, Christianity brings all men to a 
level for the common participation of rights and privileges. 

In the kingdom of Christ there are no ranks or orders, no 
dignitaries or powers, — but one is Master, even Christ, and 
" all they are brethren." There is no recognition of factitious 
social grades, nor any place for them. There is not one 
table spread for the rich, and another for the poor ; there is 
not an anointing with oil for kings, and a baptism with water 
for subjects. All are partakers of one bread, all are bap- 
tized into one baptism. Every redeemed soul is a king and 
a priest to God, and it is impossible for any to attain a dis- 
tinction higher than this. 

6. In its precepts Christianity forbids all pride, all self- 
exaltation, all oppression, all coercion, everything contrary to 
that moral equality upon which the whole system is based. 

The most terrific woes are denounced in the Gospel against 
those that oppress the poor, and defraud the hireling ; against 
such as usurp power or abuse it ; against every form of selfish- 
ness. God resisteth the proud ; He will judge the cause of 
the poor and the needy. Truth, justice, mercy, compassion, 
are every where inculcated in the ]STew Testament, and their 
opposites condemned. "Where these precepts are observed 
there can be no tyranny, nor any wrong between man and 
man. 

1. The characteristic spirit of Christianity and a cardinal 
doctrine of the system is universal love. 

This pervades the system ; this must rule in the- hearts of 
its disciples. That one principle, wherever it prevails, will 
overthrow despotism, personal and governmental, and bring 
all men to the recognition of each other's rights as truly as 
their own. Kb wonder that leaders in the French revolution 
of February, have found in the [New Testament the great 
charter of human rights, the Gospel of Freedom, "Liberty, 
Equality, Fraternity." "We need no higher guaranty of free- 



17 

dom than the rule of Christ, " All things whatsoever ye 
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." 

8. TJie reforming power of Christianity qualifies men for 
the enjoyment of personal freedom, teaches them to value it 
in themselves and in others, and prepares them to combine 
upon equal terms for the maintenance of common interests 
and rights. 

The spiritual life that the Gospel awakens in the hearts of 
those that receive it, is itself a medium of recognition and a 
bond of union. They discern in each other moral affinities 
more potent and more lasting than outward distinctions. 
They are drawn to each other in a holy fellowship, and though 
many, " are one bread, and one body." 

9. The actual reception of the Gospel in the heart awa~kens 
there a desire to extend its blessings to others, and makes its 

possessor a voluntary communicator of good, to the full extent 
of his ability. 

Every true Christian is an Apostle of Liberty. He seeks 
to bring all men, without exception, into the liberty where- 
with Christ makes free. To do good, to communicate of his 
own fullness and blessedness to them that are ready to perish, 
is his daily calling, his constant aim. Is lie free outwardly ? 
Then would he have all men free. Is he free spiritually? 
Then would he make all men free by the truth. There is no 
such life-long preacher of liberty as he. 

Such, briefly sketched, is the system of Christianity. A 
system that assumes the essential ecpiality of men in every- 
thing pertaining to their being, their rights, their enjoyments, 
their capabilities, and their hopes ; a system that makes God 
so great, and the Soul so great, and Eternity so great, that all 
distinctions of time and earth dwindle into nothing ; that so 
magnifies the relation of man to God that no power can come 
in between them without sacrilege. This system has amelio- 
rated the condition of man wherever it has gone ; — not by 
sudden and violent changes, but by sure and lasting reforms. 
It has overturned the throne of the despot, and knocked off 
the chains of the oppressed. Even Guizot, proud, conserva- 
2 



I 



13 

tive, monarchical, Catholic Guizot, recognizes Christianity as 
the grand element of liberty and progress in European civil- 
ization. 

But pre-eminently in relation to itself does Christianity en- 
gender and keep alive the true spirit of liberty. "When once 
it enters the soul of man it there abides, as a living principle — a 
growing power. It will develop itself from within outward. 
Chains cannot bincL.it ; dungeons cannot wall it in ; fire can- 
not consume it ; floods cannot drown it ; its ashes are the seed 
of a new life ; the waters that would quench it become vital 
with its presence and roll it onward in their ceaseless round. 
Once the soul has come to a recognition of its duty to God, 
and no power on earth can hinder it from doing that duty. 
The mightiest throes of the human soul for liberty have been 
when the mountain of spiritual despotism stood between it 
and God. A soul penetrated with divine truth, has within it 
a more than volcanic fire. You may pile mountains on it, 
and roll in oceans upon these, but it will heave both the 
mountain and the sea, and find its vent. Woe to institutions, 
woe to governments, woe to men, that set themselves against 
a soul that God has filled with his presence and his Spirit. To 
such a soul Popes and Kings are the Philistines binding 
Samson with their withes that snap asunder when he shakes 
his locks. All great achievements for human liberty have 
been wrought by Conscience struggling for truth. The truth 
first makes free the individual mind, and he whom God makes 
free will not be enslaved by man. 

The history of English and American liberty is a striking 
illustration of this point. That liberty sprang directly out of 
the struggles of conscience for the right to worship God. 
The attempt at coercion in matters of religion led to one of 
the most memorable movements in English history or in the 
history of the world. 

Two centuries after Wickliffe's translation of the Scriptures 
into the English tongue had been publicly condemned and 
burnt, and his followers, the Lollards, had paid the forfeit of 
their lives for reading the Bible in their mother tongue — two 
centuries after this monstrous wrong had rankled in English 



19 

breasts, and when by the caprice of Henry VIII. and the 
pious zeal of Edward VI. England had been in part reformed, 
an attempt was made to enforce uniformity in those forms of 
worship and articles of faith that had been retained from 
Rome. This attempt at coercion in matters of religion was 
resisted by certain of the clergy and the laity of the Church 
of England, who as yet were faithful in the bosom of that 
church and loyal to the realm. They refused to comply 
with certain points and ceremonies which seemed to savor too 
much of the old superstitions. These men were stigmatized 
as Puritans, and at length were treated as heretics and rebels. 
Yet they had no wish to overthrow the church, much less to 
make a change in civil government ; like Luther, they would 
have been satisfied at first with a few concessions on the part 
of their civil and ecclesiastical superiors, — with the removal 
of a few objectionable features in the existing mode of wor- 
ship; they asked for liberty to reject that which their con- 
sciences did not approve ; they did not see the scope of their 
own principles, they hardly began to think of their own 
rights. They contented themselves with supplicating the 
throne for the smallest liberty of conscience and of worship. 
But their reasonable requests were denied. In the reign 
of Queen Elizabeth, whose leading policy was to blend Po- 
pery and Protestantism together, the Puritans were not only 
required to conform to certain semi-popish usages, but also to 
subscribe to them as consonant with the Word of God. Re- 
fusing to do this they were subjected to various civil penal- 
ties. The people w T ere denied the services of any ministers 
who would not wear the priest's dress and conform to the 
ritual ; the ministers refusing so to do were ejected from their 
parishes, and those who assembled for separate worship were 
arrested and thrown into prison. The accession of James I. 
inspired the Puritans with hope. They demanded of him at 
his inauguration, ' that there should be a new correct transla- 
tion of the Bible.' (Granted.) ' That a portion of the reve- 
nues from tithes might be appropriated towards maintaining 
ministers in dark regions which had none.' (Refused.) ' That 
the ministers in districts might be permitted to come together 



20 

for mutual benefit.' (Indignantly refused.) 'That pious 
straitened preachers in terror of offending God by idolatry, 
and useful to human souls, might not be cast out of their pa- 
rishes for genuflexions, white surplices, and such like, but al- 
lowed some Christian liberty in mere external things.' His 
majesty told them to conform or he would hurry them out of 
the country. 

The persecutions which these godly men encountered for 
refusing to conform to that which was contrary to conscience, 
led them at length to inquire by what authority such forms 
of worship were imposed. It was the king or an archbishop 
who demanded that they should violate their consciences or 
be denied the privilege of worshiping God in public. But 
what right had king or bishop to make such a demand % 
They searched the Scriptures ; they found no such warrant 
there ; and what is more, they found no warrant either for 
bishops or kings ; that the hierarchal constitution of the church 
and the union of church and state were monstrous usurpa- 
tions ; that God regarded all men alike so far as civil rights 
are concerned, and that all the disciples of Christ are on an 
equal footing of right and privilege in his kingdom. 

Thus gradually were the Puritans led to the discovery of 
the great principles of civil and religious liberty. They were 
men fearing God ; and though they were in an established 
church, for there was no other, and in the beginning felt no 
dissatisfaction with its polity or with its union with the state, 
yet abhorring the superstitions and corruptions of the Romish 
church, and desiring that their own church now declared in- 
dependent, should be thoroughly purified and reformed, they 
protested against many things which though small in them- 
selves were of great importance as indicating still an affinity 
with Rome. Their reasonable remonstrances were unheeded. 
They were still required to conform. Temptations were held 
out to induce their compliance. The honors and emoluments 
of the church, the favor of royalty, in many instances were 
set before them. These were despised ; the Puritans were 
not the men to sell their consciences for ecclesiastical prefer- 
ment. Many of them relinquished their all for conscience' 



21 

sake. Persecutions were multiplied ; these were firmly 
borne; the Puritans were not the men to shrink in a conflict 
of principle. A high commission was established, — a virtual 
inquisition — England became a whispering gallery. But per- 
secution stimulated inquiry and discussion. If they could 
not worship conscientiously in the church, and yet were for- 
bidden to worship out of it, the question was one of obedience 
to human or divine authority. Who had a right to control 
their faith and worship ? Was it the civil power ? Was it 
the ecclesiastical dignitaries? Was it the church itself? 
With these inquiries they went to the Word of God — and 
they returned with but one answer. The great idea broke in 
upon their minds, that each man for himself, independent of 
all authority in church or state, has the right to worship God 
according to the dictates of his own conscience. It was the 
oppression of conscience that led to the assertion of freedom 
of thought ; it was persecution that taught the Puritans the 
love of liberty. Great principles do not spring up in a mo- 
ment. They often lie buried in the mind with a mass of use- 
less ore till the whole is cast into the crucible together and 
refined by fire. 

But when a great truth is thus evolved, it is eternal. It 
cannot die. It becomes a part of the mind itself. So was it 
with this new idea of religious liberty, which had sprung up 
in the minds of the Puritans. In the words of another, — 
"Despotism and superstition were now to encounter a new 
enemy : the consciousness of rights founded on a sense of re- 
sponsibility to God. Nothing was more certain than that the 
simplest forms of religious worship, and that republicanism, 
both in church and state, must eventually spring from these 
principles and this spirit" — And such was the fact. Out of that 
struggle for religious freedom, came, as Hume acknowledges, 
the elements of English liberty ; out of that came the Pil- 
grims of Plymouth rock ; out of that came Hampden,' and 
Cromwell, and Milton, and the Commonwealth of England. 

As ancient history demonstrated to us that, before the in- 
troduction of Christianity, there was no true idea of liberty in 
the world; so modern history has shown that the principles 



22 

of the Gospel have wrought out that idea, and have woven it 
into the texture of society and of government. Christianity 
is the Author of Liberty. 

The theme suggests to us several reflections appropriate to 
the occasion. 

1. We are called upon to renew our gratitude to God that 
the foundations of our national freedom were laid in His 
Word. 

Men may sneer at the Puritans as they will, the historic 
fact remains that to them we owe our liberties. Their strug- 
gle for religious liberty led to their emigration to this new 
world, and to the discovery of principles which were after- 
wards developed in our free institutions. " New England was 
a religious plantation, not a plantation for trade." Those who 
framed the oldest written constitution in America, declare in 
that instrument — "We all came into these parts of America 
to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel in purity and peace." 
Says a quaint writer, "He that made religion as twelve, and 
the world as thirteen, had not the spirit of a true New En- 
gland man." " New England," says Mr. Adams, "was the 
colony of conscience." The first settlers of New England had 
no schemes of conquest and power, and no dreams of wealth and 
commercial prosperity, such as influenced the Spaniards and 
Portuguese, the French, the Dutch, and many English adven- 
turers, in their settlements upon this continent. They came 
to put themselves beyond the reach of persecution, and to 
extend the dominion of Christ. I dwell upon this fact be- 
cause the New England colonies, more than any others, have 
stamped their impress upon this whole nation — and that im- 
press is civil and religious liberty, derived from cmd based 
upon the Word of God. 

Before the Pilgrims left the Mayflower, they drew up a 
social compact, forming themselves into a civil body politic. 
It was a simple act, but it led to the most momentous results. 
It was an association of freemen for the full guaranty of each 
other's privileges and rights. It was the germ of this great 
republic. The Revolution did nothing more than to establish 



23 

against foreign tyranny, and for the whole people, what was 
done in the cabin of that little vessel, as she coasted in bleak 
December along Cape Cod. 

But how came these Pilgrims to form such a constitution ? 
Great, momentous, as the transaction was, with them it was 
the most simple and natural thing in the world. They had 
not borrowed the idea from the history of the Roman and 
Grecian republics ; those republics did not contain that idea ; 
they had drawn it directly from the Bible ; they had lived 
under just such a government for many years. It was easy 
for the men who had formed a Congregational church, to form 
a Congregational government. They could not do otherwise. 
No other form of government than that simple, equal, pure 
democracy, which they had established as a church, under 
the teaching of God's word, could have seemed admissible in 
civil affairs. They needed no other. The only form of gov- 
ernment they thought necessary was an agreement or com- 
pact, like their church covenant, signed by all, to make and 
observe such laws as shall be for the general good. The 
primitive churches of New England were the models of a 
pure democracy ; a form of government pre-eminently adapt- 
ed to local churches, whose brotherhood is not ordinarily nu- 
merous, and is pervaded with the same spirit of love and peace. 
In framing a government for so wide an extent of territory 
as the United States, it was necessary to introduce the repre- 
sentative principle, but the power was retained as far as pos- 
sible in the hands of the people. Thus has our civil liberty 
sprung out of the protracted struggles of our Puritan an- 
cestors for freedom of conscience, and our civil constitution 
from the simple church organization which they adopted. 
Religious Liberty was the foundation of Political Liberty. 
We are indebted to the Bible for all that we hold dear. The 
birth-place of American Independence was not at Lexington 
or Bunker Hill ; it was not in the Hall of Independence at 
Philadelphia; it was in that little cabin where the Pilgrims 
made their free constitution ; where it was rocked upon the 
billows, and hugged by wintry winds ; and it was when the 
spirit of Liberty had become strong enough to be feared across 



24 

the sea, that the colonies were constrained to fight, not so 
much to gain their independence as to prove it to the world. 

2. Let us remember that our liberty can be perpetuated 
only by keeping the power of the Gospel uppermost in govern- 
ment, in laws, in our social institutions, in our public and 

private affairs, and in our own hearts. There is no freedom 
but of the Truth. "Without the vital, energizing power of 
Truth, freedom will become a name, a shell, a mockery. This 
is not mere declamation ; it is not professional cant. What 
are constitutions, what are laws, what is a history, when the 
spirit that gave birth to these has died out among the 
people ? But to many the spirit of liberty as it burned in 
the hearts of our fathers is already a mere tradition, while to 
the hundreds of thousands that are crowding hither from all 
the lands of oppression, it is a thing unknown and uncon- 
ceived in its essential character. The modern refugees from 
European tyranny, the modern emigration to these shores, 
though it comprises many noble and generous spirits, would 
never have made American liberty what it is — for these 
have not been baptized in the spirit of that Truth which 
alone makes free. We must win them to that truth, we must 
permeate society with that truth, or there will come upon us 
first a hollow Conservatism, then a Red Republicanism, then 
a Military Despotism. 

In this view the evangelization of our great cities is of 
transcendent importance. The great cities are the centers of 
social life. From them go forth influences to the extremities 
of the land. If these are corrupt the whole land will be cor- 
rupted also ; if these are pure the whole land will be purified 
also. If liberty is to be preserved in its integrity, then must 
the great cities receive a baptism of the Holy Ghost. Wo 
measure is so important to our nation as the reviving of re- 
ligion in these centers of social, moral, and political power. 

3. If we woidd preserve our liberties we must see to it that 
every institution of society or government that is hostile to the 
Gospel of Christ, is put away. I have nothing to keep back 



here. I must speak the truth in love. The institution of 
slavery, which exists in some of these United States and is 
recognized by the general government, is contrary to the 
whole spirit of Christianity. That institution lingers upon 
our soil, after its time, only because there the Gospel has not 
fully penetrated, has not done its work. If once the power 
of the Gospel shall come upon the churches and the legisla- 
tion of the States where it exists, that institution will vanish 
like mists before the sun. But while the institution stands, 
it is an evidence that the truth is there hampered or shut out, 
and to that extent liberty is in danger. It is impossible that 
liberty and slavery should forever exist together on the same 
soil. They can hardly do this for another half century. One 
or the other must come to an end. Neither can be passive ; 
the interests of each struggle for the ascendency ; conces- 
sions and compromises will not long hold them together ; one 
or the other must encroach and enlarge ; one must go up, the 
other must go down. Either slavery must go down volunta- 
rily, peaceably, speedily, under the moral influence of the 
Gospel, or Slavery or Liberty will one day go down in blood. 
This must be so. Liberty lives only in the light of Truth. 
Slavery lives only in darkness. The day will brighten or the 
night will deepen. The disastrous twilight of late shed over 
us may well excite our fear. The Gospel of Christ must pre- 
vail. And if we will not prepare the way for its triumph, 
God will make way for it by blotting us out from among the 
nations. It is true of nations as of individuals, that if they 
will not live by the Gospel, they must die by the Law. For 
freedom's sake, for the sake of our posterity, for the sake of 
our brethren involved in this system, the slaveholder and 
the slave, for Humanity's sake, let us continually pray, and 
through all fit channels of moral influence let us diligently 
labor, that this curse may be removed. 

4. We can render substantial sympathy and aid to nations 
struggling for liberty, mainly by introducing them into the 
spirit and power of the Gospel of Christ. We have witness- 
ed one and another impetuous but abortive effort for freedom 



26 

by the oppressed nations of Europe. Almost every year, 
certainly every decade, brings a new uprising of the people, 
only to be crushed by the relentless arm of power. Why 
these successive failures \ It is because the liberty sought is, 
for the most part, a mere freedom from outward oppressions 
— it is because the soul of the people has not been energized 
with divine truth, because the motive is not great enough, nor 
the spirit strong enough, to bear up against any and all oppo- 
sition. What is the matter with France — reeling to and fro 
" like a blinded giant," tearing out his eyes and wallowing 
in his blood % Why is there no stability to freedom in France % 
Because the religious element is wanting in the people. 
Liberty is a passion, not a principle. The first Revolutionists 
of France voted God out of existence, and God blotted them 
and their Eepublicont of existence. There can be no perma- 
nence to liberty in France, till liberty becomes a religious 
idea and a religious duty. 

!N"ow, however, there is hope of better things in Europe, 
because there the struggle for liberty is becoming more and 
more a struggle for Truth. That this is true of the leaders is 
plain from the stirring appeal of Mazzini to the people of 
England. 

" A mighty question," he says, " is now being agitated in Europe 
between two principles which have divided the world since its crea- 
tion ; and these two principles are liberty and authority. The hu- 
man mind desires to progress according to its own light, not by fa- 
vor of concession, but by virtue of the law of its own life. Autho- 
rity says to it : Rest where thou art ; I alone strike the hour of the 
march ; when I am silent every thing should rest, for all progress 
which is accomplished without me and beyond me, is impious. The 
human mind interrogates itself; it feels its own right and power ; it 
finds that the germ of progress is in itself, that strength and right 
oome to it from God, and not from an intermediate power coming 
between itself and God, as if charged to lead it. Hence spring re- 
volt and resistance, and hence the anomalous situation of Europe. 
The conscience of the human race is struggling with tradition, which 
desires to enchain it; the future and the past dispute for the collec- 
tive life of humanity, and for that of the individual. Every man 



27 

who in these struggles ever stifled yet ever re-appearing 
ries of manifestations and violent repressions which have constituted 
European history for two-thirds of a century, sees only the action of 
some turbulent fictions, or the result of some accidental or material 
causes, as a deficit, a famine, a secret conspiracy or cabinet intrigue ; 
understands nothing of the facts of history, nothing of the laws of 
which, by those facts, history becomes the expression. And he who 
in the greatest questions of the suffrage, of proletarian emancipation, 
and of nationality, sees nothing but the subjects of political discus- 
sion, having no connection with the religious idea, with the providen- 
tial development of humanity, understands neither God nor man, 
and degrades to the proportions of a pigmy intelligence, a battle of 
giants, of which the stake is a step in advance in the universal edu- 
cation of mankind, or a step backward towards the world which we 
had believed to have ended with the middle ages." 

The same spirit is alive in Hungary. My hope for Hun- 
gary, — and it is a great and confident hope, — lies in the fact 
that the element of religious freedom is there, and that the 
Austrian despot is now trying to crush the liberties of the peo- 
ple at that point. The Protestant Church of Hungary em- 
braces 3,000,000, comprising much of the intelligence, virtue, 
and talent of the land. This church has endured fiery trials 
for its faith. Ferdinand II. took a solemn oath to hunt every 
Protestant from his kingdom, even if it cost him his crown 
and his life. Their property was confiscated ; preachers were 
forced from their office ; churches occupied by soldiers ; the 
peasants were driven to mass by the bayonet, and in 1670, 
under some false political pretext the whole church in Hun- 
gary was well nigh destroyed. Only twenty parishes sur- 
vived. Their parish schools were closed, and the books and 
teachers of a different faith w r ere forced upon them. But 
through storm after storm the religious element has survived, 
and of late years the churches have had rest, and, walking in 
the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, have 
been multiplied. Such has been the education of a large 
proportion of the Hungarian people. A hatred of religious 
despotism is one of the deepest feelings in the national mind. 
These free spiritual churches have been the nurseries of lib- 



28 

erty. Says Mr. C. L. Brace, " Every cliurcli or parish chooses 
its own preacher, appoints his salary, dissolves connection with 
him when it chooses, and manages its parish school in the 
most congregational manner." There is also a series of re- 
presentative bodies by which the churches are regulated with- 
out sacrificing their liberties. Says the same intelligent ob- 
server : — 

" The Hungarians, as is natural after such a history of suffering 
under ecclesiastical tyranny, have a deep and abiding dread of 
priestly rule. Accordingly they have established, that in every 
church, every assembly, every council, there should be certain men, 
appointed from the laity, to aid in guiding the proceedings, and es- 
pecially to take charge of the monetary affairs. In consequence, 
every Assembly of the Seniors, every Convention of Superintend- 
ents, every Church Meeting, has its two presiding officers — clergy- 
man and layman, the latter usually having the title of Curator or 
Inspector." 

This Constitution Austria has now infringed. It has abol- 
ished some of its democratic features, and has put the ap- 
pointment of church officers in the hand of military com- 
mandants. In that act lies the hope of Hungary. The last 
thread of the screw is turned. The oppressor now pinches 
God's truth, and the Word of God is not bound ! Another 
turn and the screw snaps, and rebounds against the oppres- 
sor. Oh 1 if there is piety in Hungary, if her prisons shall 
but be filled with praying men — with martyrs for the truth — ■ 
her salvation is sure. And here the character of her great 
leader inspires confidence. Observe his acknowledgment of 
a Bible presented in England. 

M. Kossuth said, — " I thank you. I take it for no merit in my 
life that I am a religious man ; — not for any merit of mine, but be- 
cause it is a necessity to every honest and thinking man, and because 
it is the most rich and fruitful source of those sentiments and those 
feelings which lead to happiness in this world and bliss in the world 
to come, I shall value it because I take religion to be the most rich 
source of that consolation which I have wanted so often in my life. 



20 

Being a religious man, and because religious, as well an enemy to 
superstition, intolerance, and fanaticism, as, on the other hand, the 
friend of freedom, I readily confess that it is from this great book 
that I have learned the principle of loving my neighbor as myself, 
and strength and courage to act in the great cause which has always 
been the guide of my life." 

Thou Noble Magyar ! Scion of a race that from 
patriarchal Asia poured into feudal Europe the wild free 
spirit of the desert, that early gave its monarchs and its sons 
to the baptism of the cross, and through centuries of dark- 
ness and oppression clung to its freedom and its faith, — thou 
•who with prophet's tongue didst stir thy people to battle for 
the right, and who with martyr's zeal didst peril fortune, 
honor, friends, family, and life for thy country's good, — thou 
who knowest to use power for thy people and to despise it 
for thyself— we bid thee WELCOME to the land of the Pil- 
grims, the land of Washington, the land where Kosciusko * * 
found his honored grave. We welcome thee for thine own./' 
sake and thy country's. We know the story of thy wrongs 
and sufferings. We know the faith that preferred death by 
the scimetar of the Mussulman to the vow of the false 
prophet. We know the heroism that for years bore up in 
thy far banishment, the cause of Hungary before the world 
and God. We welcome thee to a dominion over free hearts 
that honor virtue, truth, and liberty. Here behold what God 
hath wrought by the power of his truth and the might of his 
arm. Here learn more fully, that the Truth . makes free,., 
and cheer thy soul with kindly sympathies, and with the 
faith of the Pilgrim's God ! In thy own tongue we bid thee J 
welcome. Elf en ! Isten Ifozta ! Kossuth ! 

But not as an individual only do we welcome the patriot 
chief of Hungary. He is the embodiment of a principle, 
the representative of a national sentiment, the type of a new 
order of thina-s. 



30 



" All thoughts that mould the age begin 

Deep down within the primitive soul, 
And from the many slowly upward win 

To one who grasps the whole. 
In his broad breast the feeling deep 

That struggled on the many's tongue, 
Swells to a tide of thought, whose surges leap 

O'er the weak thrones of wrong. 
All thought begins in feeling — wide 

In the great mass its base is hid, 
And narrowing up to thought stands glorified 

A moveless pyramid. 
Nor is he far astray who deems 

That every hope that rises and grows broad 
In the world's heart, by ordered impulse streams 

From the great heart of God." 



God bless thee, Kossuth, and thy poor Hungary I God 
bless thee, and send thee help from the Sanctuary! 
_ • But we owe to him and his country something more than 
(V # L (M fcjfcj* sym p athy. And what is that ? Not military aid ; he does not 
ask, we cannot render that — but moral aid. This, we can 
render, and in many ways : by sympathy toward him, by 
demonstration and remonstrance to the world on his behalf, 
but, most of all, by giving Hungary the Gospel in its fullness ; 
by strengthening her Christian men with our prayers and 
benefactions. Does any sneer at sending to oppressed na- 
tions the Bible in lieu of bayonets ? To send the Bible is to 
send bayonets, for any legitimate use of bayonets. " Icame 
not to_send peace but a sword." "Truth," says Milton, "is 



next to the lO mighty !" It will fight its own way — it will do 
its own work. We must make sacrifices to fill Europe with 
the light of Truth. Hear again Mazzini. This he says is 
the touch-stone of faith : 



"When any one says to me, 'Behold a good man,' I ask, 'How 
many souls has he saved V When any one says to me, 'Behold a 
religious people,' I inquire wha t it has done and suffered to bring 
humanity to it s belie f. "" 

"It is to man, and not to a certain number of men, that God has 
given life, the sun, the fruits of the earth, his law, and the capability 



31 

of comprehending and of obeying it. It was for all men that Jesus 
died upon the Cross. And you who honor the name of God, and 
murmur unceasingly the name of Christ, wh at have you given, what 
do you a;ive, for all men 1 For whom do you die, for whom do you 
dare martyrdom 1 By what do you render testimony to the unity 
oT the human race, of which you are only a member? What work 
of education do you accomplish upon earth V 

Oh what a faith and what a piety do this age demand — 
demand of us ! A mighty earthquake of the nations is at 
hand ! We hear its rumbling ; the next spring may witness 
its convulsions, (rod will shake terribly the nations. Now, 
in this momentary lull, is the Christian's seed time. Why 
sleep we then ? Why stand we here idle? Up, men of God! 
up ! Pour His truth upon the nations : give Italy light ; give 
Hungary light ; and from those centers the light shall radiate 
through all Europe, shall brighten in all the earth, till the 
kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord 
and of his Christ ! 






• - • ■.,.' 



J&M, <f<^ :<L ■■ C: .CSV. 
SJC CC CCC ^ 






j&<^<ZQ. ■«£<_; too 

_ <mt:, <z<r<r ^T«r «£ 

>^-^.« jCjCC cc <* -v< 
££3£ ^ crc C«Cr^ 



<cc,cc:c: 



£^<L ■<£<£: <Kci" <**K03!Cjcj 

i .-cc cc «^<:.:c^c-^ex<ccC' 



oc^c 
<ttc 



_cC«c<t:o 

:|plCC^CCCC:< 



c<icc;c v <s3;.-rC • HpssC : <acC <c<5<c 

ace CCX c . ^SSfe/itC- 



€«®tr -cc^c- ape .ec^c^tc 



T^cc^tC 7 ^ <ac~ <s«r ciccr ".ex- < 

£<cC^Cx -MiZ:- :'€GCp^ aac 

r cc&c <fc ccc c<xc < • c 

r CCCTC : ^ CC cr<C <£CC C 



cc c C «fe3C£<:crc:ccCC^:: 

:■■■ CCL? ■<: ^^^ <lc<^C5CcX?0 
Cc c <3C"c«:«CCvCC Cj 



<jcm«L^ « 



r CCC 

-:-:«:<s... 



€C; C!l 






<£ : <^Kl^K-<33cX,. ^> 



' cCL€ C 






; ■^■. cJc«^;c ^:-^%* 
cc<3t cc.c ^cc <m 



sat v v ai 3^^^ ^ ^ ' 

" vVSbx c ^ f<r c<r«r< IHI^r 



c ccc c 

-^crccc 



^«_c < 

: c c 

" C <> ; 

CO c 



kscmc 

^C^C<Ci 

"cCCsSCl 



i CSKCCC^C :<3lCCC .C<c 

-C , l OCCXCCC^ C ., <f<C :CC C 



C <S<C <£"<C Ca< . ■_ 

c <s«i cc c < c 'wgjqgg 

£ C CcoCT <t<: c. < <C «<<C<J 
sec occ; cc c * <.-_^/^ cocoes 

etc <l<lc<^; <tc C .;« . jc *E^£283& 

b: cicacz <cc c ^ • <c <rcc<^ ccc 



ferae «c c a fe <^§^ ££ £f> 

-cc 8c 



IT. ~ 

fe>G&C<fC ^ CC «C 



c^cc«co <^Gg<§cc« 

< <; 5tx c<^ <l <s ' < <f <.v" c 
C c dCCC<L< C ^e v :r" 

■cccc:* C CC' 1 <? 

^<f<.CC . 

:c<c:- <£<.< :<; <i< -.cj 

£CC«E; 



c c 

Cc £ 

"; Cc C 



ccCjC. 

Ccc«£- 



~l:tcWbc3c4i cc is 



^ cc c c <c /^acc <c*c <±? < «s 
""cc c c<" «s*cc ' «2*C CV'C <*£< 
"ofCCC -'OCT . <&<:<:<•«' 
"■<:tCCfC «£«r .^s-c:<s^ 
= CCC7CC::<1C <S£03X< 

r<CCCC- C<C::' «*S£SC1<£<£>~ 
"CCCCO^'cCC <C «C CC <2^<rc?C'«C 



"ccc<ic ; «^cc^«jcc< 



ccc c*mc<:c;c%: <<> 

1 CCC CC 

I_CP£lCCc: 

C 3felc«ECCC sCC < 

CLC *CC- CiCSi.CCC'CC 
^c ■«-cM^cc<Lc<c<r- 



<:c«oC^z 7 <aCC- 
£P«C<D<CjC 



«C <^c«iaCcsCC 

CC: M^iC<^CC^ 

-c <r v 

kC"<^ 






IS <rcox cc <r cc; c? -, ccrccjc^tec<c^ 
C "<^ccrcc<§.>c .c^cxccl^c^^^cc 

cr cic^cc: m vc „ <<cccx«xaE2ri< 



^m«:<£i3rc< 



c«:cc<< 

scr<c«trcc 






C CCCkCXCiC C c-c 

^ccor c;c7 ; cc -c^cc 
rccxccci-c -cca 

fcl C CCC C "C" c ■ C • C;-CC 

^cccccac cr^c< 






C CC 



a<C ^€<XJSZJQ 
Oc< ■ c ^<30 : c«3C 



Cc^' C 



:c_ .C----C '<< 

^CCC Cc.< C cvC 
c^C<:C CvC c/C 



^C'<C CCC c/C 

C C C^' 

?:.'<Xii:C- Cc 
4 C C C' 

rcc «c~ <: c < c c 

; << c- ' 



■'C^CEc«:c 






igc:c^ ccc 
K<5fi ccc 

:CCCCX:CCC 

5$<C .CKC1CC 

CC C c^c cc 

cc« cc 

gpCTCctr CC 

cc:c ^cccc 



C'^SCTc 






/'^ '-<^M^ 



Cc c ^r <5C' < 



ggrcr" v'^f ccc «ctcsc-. *mz 

fC ^ : 'C "CCc'^T'^C 4^C-< 

rop" CCC CCC <C: C€T( 

" S^C CXC CXC|;"v<: ^cl< 

E.C "cC:. cc ; ccg dt:<^c^ 

^£C c-cs CCCC (CCC 1 
j «<i,c c cc: cs < cjv- •■■ c3C c:C 
_. ^ffc <£'< cc <s < <r<c.' ;, o«r <s'c 

ice ccc c c; canccc 

fC-CcCC CcCcC cacccc 
¥cc cc cs < cc- ; 4 <mc ccc 

<LSC CC CC " K3i c_ <gjCCC 

C« eicCC 'c^fe'-'C^iCC 1 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



029 462 "l™ 2 






